The growing demands on mobile networks to support data applications at higher throughputs and spectral efficiencies has driven the need to develop Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) based 4th generation (4G) networks including for 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE). A key objective with respect to deployment of OFDM 4G networks is to utilize a frequency re-use of one (denoted by N=1), or as close to N=1 re-use as is practical. A frequency re-use of N=1 implies that the cells in basestations transmit on all available time-frequency resources blocks (RBs) simultaneously. The need for higher throughputs in 4G networks, especially near the cell edge, combined with the constraint on the uplink link budget will necessitate the need for smaller cell sizes than is typically deployed for present 2nd generation (2G) and 3rd generation (3G) cellular systems. The addition of smaller cells can be deployed in a traditional homogenous cell splitting approach or in a more ad hoc heterogeneous approach in which pico cells or relay nodes are overlaid on an existing macro cellular network. For both a homogeneous and heterogeneous approach, the resulting interference limited system for N=1 deployment will not achieve the full potential capacity that the LTE standard can support without the implementation at the basestation and mobile terminal of one or more viable interference mitigation and or cancellation techniques.
Machine-to-machine (M2M) or MTC type devices are an emerging area of mobile communications that is expected to grow significantly in the next several years with an expected compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of >25% in 2013.
It is desirable to find MTC solutions that ensure a clear business benefit to MTC UE vendors and operators for migrating low-end MTC UE's from GSM/GPRS to LTE networks.
The following references are incorporated herein by reference:    [1] 3GPP TS36.211, “E-UTRA Physical Channels and Modulation”, v11.1    [2] 3GPP TS36.216, “E-UTRA Physical Layers for Relaying Operation,” v10.3.    [3] 3GPP TR36.814, “E-UTRA Physical Layer Aspects”, v9.0.